Blogging McCain Speech

Just so you wouldn't have to be talking only to yourself on this thread, I did get a chance to hear a majority of the speech and read the rest of it. I don't agree with him about the Iraq war, but -- unlike the hard right wing apparently -- I don't have to agree with everything a person says to think he's a decent person. A good thing, too, because I have never agreed with more than 75% of what anyone said in my life. If you don't count HatterMom, the rate goes down to around 40%.

I do strongly agree with closing Gitmo, abjuring torture, and engaging the world community again. Here's the thing, if you believe that what we're doing is right for us, then it should be fairly easy to make that case, right? The international community has always been willing to listen to unpopular goals if they're convinced that WE'RE convinced that they're in our best interests. This administration's approach to the rest of the world on Iraq is "I want to do it. I will do it. If you don't like it, go fuck yourself." Hmmm, pretty much the president's approach to Congress also.

I like the idea of encouraging the interchange of ideas with the Muslim world through exposing the children of their merchant and government classes to American higher education. Fog, you have to realize that when faculty members criticize the Iraq war and the president, that doesn't mean they support terrorism. When they critized the Vietnam war and Nixon that doesn't mean that they were pro-communist, and when they criticized Reagan that didn't mean -- well, maybe it did mean that they were against the US giving cash and weapon bribes to terrorists. Bringing foreigners into a campus environment where everything is open to question -- even the dictates of the government -- will be as enlightening to them as it is to American college students. Try this mantra -- It's just as pro-American to voice disagreement with a Republican administration as it is to disgree with a Democratic administration. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Reinvigorating NATO is the only option other than junking it. Just treating it like a recalcitrant lapdog isn't going to cut it. You're going to have to face it, 'fog. The next president is going to relate to the international community, is going to recognize that in additions to rights in that community we have responsibilities and -- in MY favorite Churchill quote "it is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war." [Well, if you're a Brit it almost rhymes.]

All-in-all, now that the amateurs are out of the running -- the Kuciniches and the Guilianis and their ilk -- we're left with three realos, any of whom will be a huge improvement over the current lot. My only hope is that President McCain doesn't pick a lame-ass as VP. The man is only human, after all, and he may not have four more action-packed high-stressed years left in him.

Oh, and I don't worry too much about his not knowing a lot about economics. FDR knew even less and managed to save capitalism while ending the Great Depression, kicking Hitler's AND Tojo's ass, creating the UN, and turning us into the world's greatest economic power. President McCain will know it's not his strength. He'll get smart people who can help him out, and he'll listen to them.

Anyhow, thanks for keeping track of this for all of us.

 

While waiting for the fullness of your response to my "thanks for posting" I remembered this quote:

Have you ever thought about reviewing television programs? That sentence accomplishes as much as would a 25-page term paper entitled: "What's Wrong With Television News." :lol: